On Friday, Nov. 18, the public is invited to attend a conference on incorporating trees into the urban landscape. The event will take place at the Algonkian Regional Park Conference Center, 47001 Fairway Drive, Sterling.

“Make Room for Trees: the Urban Forest Continuum” is the conference’s topic, and the event will focus on how to ensure that trees are a part of urban and redeveloping areas.

The plan to transform Tysons into an urban center will be used as a case study. While the plan calls for up to 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs in Tysons, it also sets a 10 percent goal for tree cover—recognizing that trees offer environmental and health benefits.

The conference is held by the Northern Virginia Urban Forestry Roundtable, and Fairfax County’s Urban Forest Management Division is the sponsoring the event along with the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Arlington County, Town of Herndon, and other private and nonprofit participants.

Trees play an important role in reducing pollution, reducing stormwater, and generating energy savings. Based on a county study, trees in total across the Fairfax County:

Prevent 218,000 tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from entering the atmosphere every year.

Intercept 371 million cubic feet of stormwater yearly, which helps prevent pollutants from washing into our rivers, streams and the Chesapeake Bay.

Generate $11.9 million in energy savings per year by reducing the costs to cool buildings in the summer.